U-God's memoir "RAW" is filled wiith intriguing moments of anecdotes both for those who's a hardcore Wu-Tang fan and for sociologists want to know more about wht it was like growing up in the drug infested buildings of New York for a young black man with not much going for him. "RAW" has plenty of both and as it's the first true biogrphy of a Wu-Tang Clan founer it holds a littl exttra weight; I guess you could call RZA's "Tao Of Wu" at least in part an autobiography but it's so much more (and of coure also comes highly recommended).
One of the illest annecdotes of the book is the real semi-professional recording of the first Wreck/D.M.D. Posse cut (Method Man, U-God, Inspectah Deck and Prince Rakeem on the production tip). Luckily for us tracks like this, "16th Chamber" and "Cuttin' Headz" managed to survive at a relative pristine quality "RZA's home studio was our first studio, and that four-track was our first equipment ... With RZA's four track - we keep making bangers [and at the end of the night] we leave his place with a tape of what we done", U-God remembers. "One night while working on our first Wreck posse cut, "I Get Down For My Crown", - Meth wrote a verse which a portion from would later be used for one of Ghost's biggest hits "CherChez La Ghost"".
Once Meth laid down his verse, I went into my rhyme book and pur down my verse, and then Deck came behind us and laid the last verse. RZA evem sampled the flushing toilet and sound effects to the joint as well. Back then we would dub them off for the other brothers in the hood" ... next thing we know everyvody in the 'jects had "I Get Diwn For My Crown"," He's keep talking about a few other songs he dd, jut him, Meth and Deck with RZA on tthe boards. specifically mentioning "Let Me Put My To´Two Cemts" that seems to have been dubbed on cassette for a lot of people as well so hopefully we will get a leak of that one day.
Any Wu-Tang related sites since the beginnings have had a FAQ about what that music that was played in the interlude to Spot Rusherz. Any even pretending Wu fanatic know by now that dope beat and rhymes was a RZA-produced Clan commercial commisionned in the first half of the '90s. Like the snakes these corporate business is, St. Ide's was at the time aiming for a big splash in the black and minirorities community. Think of it, what other product in 1992/1994 was marketed to blacks. Sure there were the Sprites and Mountain Dew commercials as we willll, but that was still a couple years down the road.
But back to the topic - although only one minute in length (barely), it's ovvious the grop didn't just see this as an easy paycheck but rather made sure they had some real hot, well thought out shit. RZA's production evokes outdoor neighborhood barbeques on a hot summer day. And there's no question that Meth Ghostace, Raekwon, U-God and RZA were taking their time to write their short verses to make sure this came out the right way. Just check this immaculate Ghost verse, delivered with his nasal power bars style of the '90s. "Call me the Wallabee Champ, stretched out, could never be Son/ Ricochet daily hit the deli for a cold one/ Naturally blessed, yes, my rap is like a laser beam/ That blows in the bushes, St. Ide's fill the canteen". A 30 second edit was aired on MTV, while the full 60 seconds joint appeared from time to time on radio. Thanks to the homie Cilvaringz for the first time we have "St. Ide's Commercial" not only in full, but for the first time in as good a quality as possible. This was given to him by RZA and taken straight from the ADAT so the quality is really superior to anything you heard before though it's not really mixed. Oh by the way, track is produced by The RZA with co-production by Method Man according to 'Ringz.
The St. Ide's commercial is relatively known after all, it had its TV spot and been all over the net. However only the real Wu heads know that RZA and the Clan was commisioned to do a Mountain Dew commercial somewhere between '96-'98 and a 30 second snippet used to to be available online around 2002, but I haven't seen it for YEARS (the actual collaboration was aborted I believe). Now, once again thanks to Cilvaringz, he has uploaded the full one minute song - which plays more like an interlude than a commercial. Produced by The RZA, it deifinitely got that "Wu-Tang Forever" sound and the five legendary emcees all sound like they did on that album (where they do me was at their absolute peak). Again, Ghostface steal the show for me, caught in between his stream-of-consciousness style and his more rugged street persona, while Deck is always Deck, Masta Killa does what he always does, etc. A must hear! And a big thank you goes out to Cilvaringz and the peeps at Wu-Corp. for these gems - but more people deserve to hear them imo!
01. Wu-Tang Clan - "St. Ide's Commercial" [1994] [prod. by RZA & Method Man]
02. Wu-Tang Clan - "Mountain Dew" [1997] [prod. by RZA
THE INTRODUCTION - How did we get at this point? RZA and his Wu-Tang Clan brethren were one of the main reasons I feel in love with Hip Hop and also an imporant part in what made me so interested in sample based music. I've written extensively about the Wu and The RZA on these forums throughout these years, and as I made clear in my rceet artcle on "Bobby Digital: In Stereo", there's to my mind never been as talented Hip Hop producer around. He totally threw out the rule book and said "fuck it, if it sounds good to my ears it will sound good to others". Loops that didn't fully connect, sounds of rusty chain being dragged throughout entire songs, loops played backwards and accentuated by a scratch, and often extremely simple piano lines (which wss a main feature of "Return to the 36 Chambers"; ODB's debut). Even Pete Rock has gone on record saying that he was flabbergasted that he was able to make stuff like this come out as dope, but he couldn't other than recognize his genius. RZA was always a DJ and went entirelty by ear, if a number of elements might work, if it souded good once he put it together (many producers like True Master has likeed his production style and layering of samples to a house of carts - if one card/sample falls, everything is blown). There's a saying that if it's not broke, don't fix it - but few producers has moved so far from his original style so that he has alienated a large majority of his old fans.
The first big change happened in the early days of recording "Wu-Tang Forever". When visiting a music store to buy 10 000 USD worth of samplers, computer software and production tools, he had a sort of "epiphany" if you will. The store clerk, or music demonstrator or whatever, recognized RZA and being one of those obvious hip-hop haters, and even worse a disgrunled wannabee musician that couldn't work with music other than selling the materal to real musicians. Recognizing RZA he not only attacked this man whose music was praised by millions of people, he went as far as saying that The Abbot wasn't even a real musician by any stretch of the word. As RZA grew up on the Stax, Motown and classic Soul of the '70s he probably had long wanted to play an instrument and compose in the same way as masterminds like Al Green. This was the day that the seed that gradually started to change Wu-Tang's music was gradually beginning to change. Diggs started reading up and studying western music theory which of course is a truly great and important mathematical sysem, though it somewhat doesn't conform with the sound of sample based Hip-Hop. As RZA was still on his old path (putting together sounds like a DJ, by ear, at his point) I'm sure that part of his immersion in this musical theory originally gave him some amazing insights that allowed him to do some absolutely marvelous ish by conforming to two worlds. The first beat he applied his newfound knowledge on was the Wu-Tang Clan single "Triumph" and many other songs on "Wu-Tang Forever", and then "Bobby Digital (In Stereo)". The problem was that the unpredictability of a RZA sample slowly started to diminish more and more throughout the years, and that had been one of the main things that really was his niche.
To say that RZA learning and understanding western music theory and striving to learn instruments like piano and guitar single handledly destroyed RZA's legacy as the greatest hip hop producer of time is nothing short of plain bullshit. It was more weapons at his disposal but you could sometime tell he so despearetely felt he wated to be an accepted "real" musician that he forgot his origins and like him and his Wu brothers (and many others) often has said - "you can't know your future unless you know where you came from"). There's amazing RZA productins where he succesfully meshes the western musical traditions, symphonies orchestras, his knack for cinematic scoring (which has always been evident in his music since the mid-'90s) with raw rhyming. Some of the best examples of more recent songs are "Fatal" and "Thirsty" from the "Blade Trinity" soundtrack and the absolutely mindblowing "Chambers Of Fear" (see above). And he was still giving artists like Ghost ("Run", "Kunta Fly Shit", 2004), Mehtod Man (five tracks on "4:21", 2006) and Masta Killa (three tracks for "No Said Date", 2004) that vintage Wu sound. Not to mention something super gritty like the "Brutality" single for Sunz Of Man member Prodigal Sunn that was released in 2005 - or how about the more recent joints he gave Game and Talib Kweli, respectively.
I could easily make a compilation of newish RZA beats that still bangs HARD as hell to show you that he can bring that back when he wants to. But I'm not going to act like RZA is the producer he once was neither. Whenever The Abbot drops a really hot beat that make you throw on the stink face is getting rarer and rarer. For me the last RZA produced albums that I really and truly fell in love with from fron-to-back was "8 Diagrams" (yep, I said it - amazing album right there, and I'm going to write a separate article on that one soon enough ro expand my thoughts on why I think its one of the best albums of 2007) and the "Afro Samurai" soundtrack(s) (mainly the first one, though the second one was about 50/50 on the bangers scale - so combining them as I have suggested before makes for a damn fine album). "A Better Tomorrow" was not a bad album but it wasn't what we as Wu fans wanted to hear, but whereas its group predecessor had a whole lot of character, was experimental in nature and carreid a somber mood throughout this album sounded somewhat run-of-the-mill.
THE REVIEW (5/10)
And now there's this collaboration with guitarist, singer and instrumentalist Paul Banks of alternative rock band Interpul. An unexpted collaboration if I ever heard of one. I have a hard time imagine there's many people who are both Interpol and Wu-Tag fans and though I only heard the album one time, I really don't have any urge to play it again. The juxtapoisition of these two musical styles sound rather forced, yet it's its own thing and i don't think it will really satisfy either Wu fans or Interpol fans. RZA's verses sound to self-conscious as he feel the need to say something profound but ofen falling flat. Some of the beats have interesting aspects but then they are co-producitions that are musically world aparts. I kind of like the first single "Giant" and there's music that can be repated here but overall it's the most dissapointing album The Abbot has ever been apart of. Of course he's not going go back to Gravediggaz days but it's quite clear he didn't give two fucks about his oriignal fans her - instead it seems he was aiming for recognition by the white indie press and fans, which is just said consiering that this is the guy whose music that everyone from Hollywood actors, to politicanss to the junkie on the corner loved. But the music they love him for is already there and was made between 1992 and 2006 (some would say 1998 but I think it's idiotic to claim RZA hasn't doe much marvelous music since then, albeit less frequetly).
"Anything But Words" isn't something anyone but RZA and Paul Baks themeselves would want to hear, and this is coming from someone who has always defeneded and embraced (most of) The Abbot's musical changes and challenges. Will we ever see a classic RZA produced album again ? At this point and time, it seems unlikely but he has suprised us before. These days it seems that the best RZA helmed tracks apepars on the various soundtrack he's working on. "The Man With The Iron Fist" was actually a very dope album and though he didn't really produce the majority of them, he was the de-facto leader and mastemrind behind "Chamber Music" and "Legendary Weapons" - a collection of Clan members, Killa Beez and underground New York emcees entangled in rhyming sessions on a given topic, set to the live rendition of typical hip hop beats y The Reveleations. All very solid albums, and despite what some might ´say, there's still hope for future Wu bangers, but remember it's not 1995 anumore.
Following up my article on the merits of RZA's 1998 solo debut "In Stereo" on GeeStreet/V2, I decided to put together a compilation highlighting the transforation of Bobby Steels to Bobby Digital on wax as we was able to hear it. As I mentioned in the article, although it might have sounded like that to many of us at the time, the stripped down sound of RZA's digitized orchestra wasn't born out of thin ear but was something The Abbot was slowly perfecting deep down in his basement studios, only letting out small pieces at a time for heads to show up before letting the whole album touch down in late '98, following up Method Man's "Tical 2000: Judgement Day" and Cappadonna's "The Pillage". To me it's very close to a personal classic and a stronger LP than either of the aforementioned projects - it is also the only solo album by RZA that I think really shows how dope he really is as an artist. The close-to-sample free sonic enviroment created through a multiplex of keyboards and synthesizers that could come close to the sound of a 19 piece orchestra. A brilliant mix of the digital and the analog, and to top it all off it was a well put together concept album - telling the story of the superhero Bobby Digital and his struggles in the Americna ghetto. As "Wu-Tang Forever" and songs like "Sunshower" pointed our RZA was preparing an intense project full of wisdom and knowledge with lyrics touching on politics, 5% and Nation of Islam teachings, the art of war, and spirituality. This album was to be titled "The Cure" and has today taken on almost mythical proportions as the rapping producer realized he wasn't in the right mindstate to proudce such an important lyrical masterpiece. Instead he created the persona of Bobby Digital, mixing his own hectic upbring in the '70s and '80s with blaxploatation flicks and comic books in the creation of his very own superhero. In the masked character of Bobby Digital he was able to indulge in full misoginy, weapon fetishes, violence, drugs, and over the top movie scenarios.
85 percent of the LP was produced by RZA hismelf, with the exception of Inspectah Decks excellent, mystic Portishead sampling "Kiss Of A Black Widow" and the interlude "Airwaves" which really is RZA's verse stricty lifted from the Wake Up Show Anthem '99 twelve inch - the linear notes mistakenly credit King Tech as the prodcuer of "Love Jones" which is most likely wrong. RZA got a special, kind of ruff and rugged voice so he sure needs several guests and not too long a running time to create a poewerful vibe that never let the listener lose interest - and "In Stereo" is a front-to-back materpiece as long as you lose the four bonus tracks at the end.
Not couning the music on "Wu-Tang Forever" (where he first started using the digitial orchestra) there is at least 10 songs that is increasingly Bobby Digital joints, starting with the Hide-Out Remix to Method Man's "The Riddler" from 1996 and ending with "Cakes" by Bobby Digital and Kool Rap. Grab it below for a nice bite size of Bobby Digi Digi..
BOBBY DIGITAL - "STEREO OR MONO - ITS B.O.B.B.Y." (1998)
01. "Belly Of The Beast"
02."The Chase"
03. "The Riddler" [Bobby's Hide-Out Mix] (w. Method Man)
04. "Nurmeg" (w. Ghostface Killah)
05. "Windpipe" (w. Ol' DIrty Bastard & Ghostface Killah)
06. "Project Talk" (Ft. Beretta 9) [Interlude]
07. "Terrorist" [Director's Cut] (Ft. Black Knights & Killarmy)
08. "And Justice For All" (w. Method Man & Killarmy)
09. "Shaolin (6eme Chaundron)" (w. Arsenik)
10. "Cakes" (Ft Kool G Rap)
11. "Do You Hear The Bells" [So Called Freestyle]
12. "Bobby Digital Audio Interview: 'In Stereo Bonus Disc'"
When discussing RZA as a marvel of Hip Hop production the template that really shows his depth and range is usually accepted to be his work between "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" (1993) and "Wu-Tang Forever" (1997), the two WTC group albums, and the solo albums in between. Those latter projects is what we commonly refer to as the first round of solos, five albums which each offered a unique look into the starring emcee's persona, style and musical preferences - or their respective chamber as the Wu themeselves would call it. The way RZA managed to craft a complete body of work for each individual emcee (that was also distinct from the group projects) which was easily distinguishable from the previous and next projects through their sonic substance and either the samples used or the way they were used. The music created for those albums not only reflected the emcees voices but also a sound which were the musical equivalents of their respective personality. "Ironman" (1996) is a great example. For Ghostface who always had a strong love for the soul classics of the '60s and '70's, RZA used those type of records as sample souces (Al Green, Jackson 5, The Persuaders, etc.) and took a cleaner and more polished approach to the music than he did for Raekwon's hard hitting, red hot street opera released a year earlier. RZA and Ghost even invited Force MD's and Delphonics to add their voices to the album and created their own take of a heartfelt soul classic with Mary J. Blige on the autobiographical "All That I Got Is You". It's no question that this was clearly Ghostface's chamber, his personal work, and RZA did a marvelous job of tailoring it to suit his musical needs. In contrast compare it with Method Man's "Tical" (1994) which was all around super grimey, dark and dusty. Layered with unorthodox sounds, heavy drum programming and such heavy low end that the basslines would damn near blow out your speakers ("Biscuits" is a good example), the close-to-scary darkness that surrounded the songs was the musical equivalent of the blunts dipped in honey that Meth supposedly smoked at the time. Each of the albums RZA produced around this time can be described by pointing out their differences, but it's also important to note that despite each album being easily distinguished from the next, RZA also managed to create them in a way that collectively would help create an unmistakable Wu sound - a sound that to this day has never succesfully been re-created by anyone else (despite superb "interpretations" by people like True Master and Allah Maethematics).
I would like to challenge this commonly accepted discourse by making a case for the inclusion of RZA's very own solo debut "Bobby Digital: In Stereo" (1998) to be considered as a natural part of the aforementioned first round of albums that defined RZA as a producer and built the Wu-Tang brand. In that case it both marks the end of an era as well as the beginnings of a new one, something that can be said for "Wu-Tang Forever" as well. Coming two years after Ghostface's soulful celebration and embracement of his life, beats and rhymes, RZA went back to his well of inspiration to craft yet another totally individual chamber of sounds within the Wu-Tang pantheon. But this time the resulting body of work would take even the most loyal of followers by surprise as RZA stripped down the majority of what had made him number #1 to the hoards of people who worshippped at his altar - his mastery of creating music from samples. Although his various albums had contained very different styles they all shared the common thread of being sample based music. Around 1996 he had instead begun experimenting with a wide range of keyboards and synthesizers which he dubbed his "digitized orchestra" while also taking up Western music theory. Looking back at the album today and putting it within a wider context we can however see that this wasn't as sudden a transformation as was once believed the first time fans heard the synthesized "B.O.B.B.Y." blast through the speakers. I would say that the earliest precursor that could be considered Bobby Digital material would be the Hide-Out Remix of the Method Man single "The Riddler" (from 1995's Batman Forever soundtrack). Another joint that appeared months before the first single from "In Stereo" is called "And Justice For All..." which was featured on the Razor Sharp compilation "Wu-Tang Killa Beez: The Swarm". Naturally, a lot of the stuff we heard were already beginning to take shape on "Wu-Tang Forever" with its stripped use of samples in favor of digitized keyboards based on chord progressions and European music theory.
With this in mind it's clear that this "new" sound wasn't something that The RZA had haphazardly thrown together with the simple reason of doing away with sample-based music. This was a style that he had been working on and trying to perfect for quite some time, and someone with as good an ear as The Abbot has proven to master a style rather fast. What makes "In Stereo" so intriguing from a production standpoint is that it's still quite firmly rooted in the unpredictability and originality that came from RZA being a producer from starting out as a DJ (basing everything by ear), in contrast to a producer working slavishly from music theory (basing everything on "logic"). This unpredictability is something that RZA to a large degree lost as he became more immersed in Western musical theory, but on here he had yet not truly "got a grip on it" more than the most basic stuff, which allowed him to create a sound that mixed traditional and unexpected elements. Two great examples of this is "Unspoken Word" and "Mantis". On the latter cut he has the fat drums programmed, a repetitive piano loop, and really very little else, until he chooses to use what should, by all natural logic, be an incredibly annoying sound effect that sounds something like a repetitive control tone. This is used to create a kind of melody and is then looped across the entire track. With Bobby, Masta Killa and Tekitha all going hard as fuck the end result is hypnotic in its brilliance. The inclusion of . "Unspoken Word" similarily creates a hypnotic groove out of a fascinating anomali, created by a rock hard, but very short loop with a vocal sample that never gets to finish before it is looped back again. This keeps repeating for 5 minutes straight while RZA spits some of the hardest bars on the album - there's a lot of quotables on here and to me this would've been a better first single than the somewhat mediocre "B.O.B.B.Y.".
Like the preceding Wu-Tang albums he produced "In Stereo" is a very cohessive and thematically tight album. The musical tranks linked by accoustic piano intermissions of spoken words in different languages shouting out Bobby Digital as the worldwide superhero he is. As I mentioned above I was never crazy about the lead single "B.O.B.B.Y.", but from the second song and up to the last song on the thematic closer "Domestic Violence" "In Stereo" plays out like a modern day masterpiece. Similiar to the earlier albums mentioned above, the LP is filled with Wu-Tang Clan members (most generals make an apperance in one way or another - save for Raekwon) and like on the older albums some of the best tracks are the posse cuts and cuts with guests. Perhaps because RZA, though a good rhyme spitter, he's always best when surrounded by emcees of equally high caliber ("N.Y.C. Everything" with Method Man; the Inspectah Deck produced "Kiss Of A Black Widow" with ODB; the posse cuts "Holocaust", "Terrorist" and "Bobby Did It"). It also stands out as it is the first true Clan solo that heavily features what RZA in a The Source article in late '99 called his "C-artists" (Killarmy, Black Knights, North Star, Tekitha, Ms. Roxy, etc.). As such it was the first album that introduced the somewhat legendary Holocaust on a track where he attacked the song so viciously that he got the track (which was originally titled "Silkworm") named after him. Those two posse cuts with Ghost are also among the first two tracks to feature the style that Ghost would attract the whole world to with his "Supreme Clientele" style some 18 months later.
When discussing "In Stereo" as a classic it is important to note that the album features 21 tracks, with the information that the four final tracks are bonus RZA tracks (as in not made in Bobby Digital persona). As such the liner notes makes it clear that "Bobby Digital in Stereo" is finished when track #17 fades out - the excellent artistic and violent expression that is "Domestic Violence". Therefore it should be noted that when I am discussing "In Stereo" as a personal classic and a profound and cohessive musical statement on par with the first round of Wu-Tang solos, those sentiments are based on the front-to-back experience of listening to tracks 1 to 17. While a couple of the bonus tracks does have some merit (especially "Lab Drunk") it makes the album sound dragged out and the two weakest songs on the entire disc finish things off diminishes the artistic statement of the preceding cuts. To end the album on the one-two punch that is "My Lovin' is Digi" and "Domestic Violence" is nothing short of genius - the first one being a majestic string filled affair with beautiful, seductive female vocals and Bobby Digital declaring his love for women and love in general. On the other hand, "Domestic Violence" is the gritty backside of that same coin - where Bobby describes a fallen relationship in the harshest terms possible over a stripped down but gut punchingly hard beat. When the song fades out after over 5 minutes we've been treated to misogynistic rhymes and hateful attack on the former partners as well as a chaotic outro with U-God on the phone interrupting the fighting couple in a most cinematic way. When the song finally ends the sudden sound of silence is almost a relief, and like the moments after you've seen a great movie that had a profound impact on you, you'll sit there reflecting on Bobby Digital and his weird, intense world of hip-hop, drugs, women and violence.
Lastly, on an interesting side note, followers of this blog and Wu-Tang in general know that many artists releases different versions of albums for the Japanese market every now and then. Much like the Canadian release of "Supreme Clientele", the Japan release of "In Stereo" features a different tracklist which I have a hard time reconciling with the well-thought out concepts of the orignal album (or maybe the Japanese tracklist was the original before RZA realized there were more to be done - similiar to another pefectionist who kept shaping his work even after their original releases - Stanley Kubrick). The Japanese version loses all the skits and intros as well as the excellent "Handwriting On The Wall" featuring Ras Kass and RZA which uses the same drum-less "beat" as those interludes. Another song that doens't make the final cut is one of my favorites, the triumphant "My Lovin' is A Digi" which makes "Domestc Violence" so much more powerful. Instead the Japanese got the four RZA bonus tracks spread out across the album (yet the back cover still says that it DOES feature four bonus RZA tracks). But what makes the album really inteeresting for westerners despite being far from as good or cohessive - is the inclusion of the 11 minutes self-produced freestyle "Do You Hear The Bells" and the extended version of "Terrorist" with addiitional verses by Holocaust, Dom Pachino and Killa Sin. On the subject of "Terrorist" you have to admire how Bobby borrowed the bassline of "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin' Ta Fuck With" and incorporated it in to the flavor of the digitized orchestra. "Do You Hear The Bells" appeared on a free "N.Y.C. Everything" cardboard single with Stress Magazie that my homie Big Rob owned, so I got a high quality FLAC file here of that single for your enjoyment (it's quite large considering one of the songs is an 11 minutes/"freestyle"). And if you're intersted you can check out the original"Bobby Digtai In Stereo" (Japan) tracklist, rip the songs and put them in the proper sequence and see what you think. To my ears the US/European versions are far superior. 01. "B.O.B.B.Y." 02. "Unspoken Word" 03. "Airwaves" 04. "Love Jones" 05. "N.Y.C. Everything" 06. "Mantis" 07. "Holocaust" (Silkworm)" 08. "Terrorist" 09 "Bobby Did It ("Spanish Fly) 10. "Kiss OF A Blak Widow" 11. "Do You Hear The Bells" (9 Minute Freestyle) 12. "Project Talk" 13. "Lab Drunk" 14. "Fuck What You Think" 15. "Daily Routine" 16. "Donestic Violence"
"N.Y.C. EVERYGHING" / "DO YOU HEAR THE BELLS" (CDS) [FLAC]
Laze, the man behind RawDealRadio (a site which comes highly recommended) has a great collection of rare gems from old radio shows and what not. Recently he dropped something that will have fans of the Wu-Tang Clan and early Naughty By Nature salivating. Recorded on June 27, 1991, for a collecge radio station the theme is a promo for Tommy Boy as it showcases some of the new talent on their roster. Remember that this is before either Treach (or Naughty By Nature) or RZA (who was still going by Prince Rakeem by this point).
Perhaps the most interesting thing here is Rakeem's revelation that he already has completed eight songs for his Tommy Boy debut which was supposed to be coming out soon. It's unclear whether or not the three songs from his original EP is included in that number, but my guess is that only the title track ("Oh We Love You Rakeem") would be considered an album cut. RZA has talked many times about how Tommy Boy tried to change his sound and image to have more crossover appeal so it's probably for the better that the album never happened. I can't say I wouldn't be tempted to listen to a bootleg of that unreleased material though. Either way this is a historic show, and a huge thank you goes out to Laze and Raw Deal Radio . I also want to give a shout out to Brandon of Crates Of Jr. for putting me on to this bomb and peace to Lost Tapes reader Daze for correcting me on where this show came from. The good stuff is on Side B and Side C of Laze's cassette recording, especially Side C has the real heat.
Check out the tracklist and a full stream of the three sides ripped by Laze from 103.3 WPRB Princeton.
Along with the homie FatboyBrandon, YouTube poster Hezakaya is something of a legend in Wu-Tang fans circles these days as he got tons of rare clips of the Clan and some other hip-hop legends on shows like Yo! MTV Raps and most you can imagine. And he is willing to share them for free whch is of course super appreciated. I made a good find yesterday that he had uploaded somewhat recently which is a sitdown between Fab 5 Freddy, Pete Rock, The RZA and Prince Markie Dee (original member of Fat Boys who later started producing R&B and Soul records under his real name Mark Morales). This was taped in 1995 and I have never seen this before and its some neat footage, no doubt. Check it up top and props to Hezakaya (oh the clips after the interview concludes about midway through is from the underrated movie"The Show").
Lurking the Wu-Tang Corp. forums (whcih is close to dead right now but there's still somee good heads representing) member Soob found and posted an absolutely excellent radio interview predating the release of "36 Chambers". Recorded and sent out through the airwaves on March 1, 1993 this is an absolute must hear for any hardcore Wu fans (and you know I'm one of them, as I know many of my readers are). Of course the real props for this shining gem goes to YouTube's Wu-Tang Messiah number #1, Mister Hezakayah who has uploaded the full 25 minutes segment on to the Tube for free streaming and enjoynment for heads all over the world. Hosted by legendary DJ's and hosts DJ Ritz and Steve Wildman this is like an extended skit from the "Enter The Wu-Tang" LP, with Ghostface, Raekwon, Method Man and U-God holding it down together with Ce Style and Kamal Bee of Total Pack. This been up for a few months but I and many with me has been sleeping so in the words of Sunz Of Man and Killarmy - Wake The Fuck Up!! As some interesting bonus footage check out this very rare clip from Prnce Rakeem doing a short freestyle for Music Video Box in 1990, now that's a Lost Tape. Again tahnks to Hezakaya, you're definitely the man!
With the help of super ill composer/producer/instrumentalist Adrian Younge, Wu-Tang Clan's most shining star Ghostface Killah delivered his best album in several years with 2012's "12 Reasons to Die". Now the duo team back together for more of the same formula - following the concept of their first meeting so closely they have choosen to call it a proper sequel. While the album isn't released to stores in another week, the New York Times have been given exclusive rights to stream the project to listeners for free so be sure to head over to the link below and press play.'
With Method Man's first album in almost 10 years just around the corner with "Meth Lab", lets take a look back at what is often described amongst hardcore Wu-Tang fans as one of the straight up wack releases from an official Clan member ever released. So what the hell went wrong? Both "Tical" (1994), "T2: Judgement Day" (1998) [extremely underrated album] and his first collabo with Redman on "Blackout!" (1999) was at the very least solid projects that gave Wu fans that grimey shit of what they wanted and expected from the one member of Wu-Tang Clan who already from the first single was designed to be its number 1 face outwards due to his slamming solo single that was even titled after his name. Funny thing is that due to some less stellar Wu solos and albums and an interest in the backpack / underground movement of El-P, Cannibal Ox, Mr. Lif, Mr. Len, Chubb Rock, and so on I stopped checking for Wu around 2001 after "Bulletproof Wallets" and "Iron Flag" - two albums that I have since reevaluated. Anyway fast forward to late 2004, and a real good friend had received a free cassette of J-Love's "A Taste Of Tical 0: The Prequel Part II" which he gave me and I was blown away by how dope this shit was and how much of these songs I had missed out on (remember this was a bit before the internet truly blew up and I hadn't checked for Wu for a few years, so I was thinking these hardcore gems was from the album it was promoting). After several spins I found myself in a record store picking up the actual album, thinking well at least Method Man never dissapoints so this will b interesting to hear at the very least. Who could have known...
Another thing that made the album fail big time is how Kevin Liles and Sean Combs vetoed against RZA's involvement in the album. What the hell? RZA made Meth's career, he produced the single that made Meth sell double platinum on his debut. Apparantly RZA and Meth had been in the studio recording and completing no less than seven records, but at the end only one song made the actual tracklist. Is it a coincidence that it happens to be the best song of the album ("The Turn" featuring Raekwon?). Even great producers like No I.D. who the same year supplied two absolutely amazing joints for Ghost's "Pretty Toney" album on the same label. It's quite easy to see that the A&R:s and execs asked No I.D. for a generic beat that could work in the club and the result was the abonimation that is "Tease". It's a shame because I love Meth's flow and I love No ID's production and that this is the only collabo we are left with between the two is just a sad state of affairs. Another thing that really bugs me about the album is that they cut away Wu-Tang features that would've been a great selling point to us hardcore heads. LA The Darkman was featured on the excellent RZA production "That Thang" while Ol' Dirty Bastard provided a banging hook on the song "Who You Rollin' With" which was mysteriously absent from the retail version.
Still "Tical 0: The Prequel" got it's moments, though they are few and far between. It would make for a dope EP, the main single with Busta, "What's Happenin'" always get me hyped as hell, I like the title track, I like "The Show", I love "The Afterparty" with Ghostface and as I mentioned above "The Turn" with Rae and RZA is a bonafide Wu classic. Still giving Meth's statue as one of the true greats, this album deserves all the hate and ridicule it has come across. Check out the "That Thang" track with Darkman below and the ODB original version of "Who Ya Rollin' With" and add those to the tracks mentioned in this paragraph and you got a nice lil' EP. Let's hope "The Meth Lab" will provide us with that real heat! Big shout out to CL2Coming for the rare 192 kbps album rip of the rare ODB version of this joint and the J-Love version of "This Thing". You'll also find "Take The Heat", Meth's collaboration with Dr. Dre recorded for the album, it's decent but given the high profile collabo I'm suprised they ditch this. Download all of them below. METHOD MAN Ft. ODB & STREET - "Who Ya Rollin' Wit" METHOD MAN Ft. RZA & LA THE DARKMAN - "THIS THING" [produced by RZA] METHOD MAN - "TAKE THE HEAT"
Few groups throughout hip-hop's rather brief history has been as fascinating as The Gravediggaz to me. I am mainly talking about the original incarnation here (though I indeed like their two second releases quite a lot but it's just not the same without the original mebers and their impeccable chemistry and common drive during that first album! The Prince Paul led quartet that saw the super producer oversee and direct three criminally underrated lyricists as they mixed what would become known as horrorcore with knowledge of self in an absolute brilliant way. Being that I'm 28 years old, I fell in love with hip-hop in the mid-'90s and one of the first LP:s I truly fell in love with and memorized every word to at around 13 years old was the GD debut "Niggamortis". Of course the album was known as "6 Feet Deep" in the US but as Frukwan says "it was always 'Niggamortis' to us" (Coleman, 2014). I recently read Brian Coleman's excellent book "Check The Technique Volume II" which has an extensive chapter on the album with Frukwan and Paul breaking down the science behind its making and even a track-by-track breakdown. That and my man Pattch82's excellent interview with The Undertaker for HipHopSite about the album's making is all any Gravedigga head will need to read to fully grasp the genius and hard work that went into that classic of an LP and chuckle at all the crazy ancedotes. If you haven't bought that book and it's predecessor and is a true hip-hop fan, I STRONGLY recommend you to do so - both volumes are among the best books I've ever read on hip-hop - related to this thread, it also contains a deep chapter on Stetsasonic's "In Full Gear" where Frukwan, Prince Paul, Daddy-O and DBC break down that album in great detail.
* Did you for instance know that the beat for "6 Feet Deep" (the song) was created almost by accident? While waiting for engineer Scotty Harding to come by the studio, the quartet headed over to the music room of the studio and started playig around with the instruments; Frukwan on guitar, RZA on keyboards, Paul on drums (maybe Poetic on bass then?). Every once in a while they would come up with a little groove by accident, but the whole thing were being recorded. And RZA as crazy as he was back in those days, took home the tape, chooped up some parts he thought had potential, added a beat and brought it back to the guys, the next day. This was also the last song recorded for the album, and Scotty Harding was pissed when recording it, thinking it sounded like a Tom Waits song.
* Did you know that not only Sunz Of Man affiliates Shabazz, Dreddy Kruger and Killah Priest made their debut on "Niggamortis", but also Hell Razah? He's one of the guys asking one of the seven questions of "360 Questions to Ask a Gravedigga?".
* Did you know that Prince Paul produced "Diary Of A Madman", and not RNS and RZA as the credits would have you believe? RZA presented Paul with a cassette of that Johnny Mathis loops that his man RNS had done. Paul loved it and even though RNS wanted credit for them to use it he refused to reveal the sample source, forcing Paul to add a beat to the shitty cassette loop. Then he of course tied it all together, Prince Paul style, with the cinematic court scenario. So RNS got credit because of him finding the loop, RZA got credit for presenting the tape and making the connection and Prince Paul got co-production credit for producing the record. That's just how it goes sometimes.
* "Niggamortis" went through several tracklist changes, many of them last minute, as can be realized not only by looking at some of the earlier promo cassettes but also by listening to the "Rest in Peace (Outro)". On this banging outro RZArector agressively takes the mic for a speech that incorporates a lot of the tracks on the album. This however also includes "Freak The Sorceress", "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" and "Pass The Shovel". In the end it was RZA who vetoed against including "Freak...", against Paul's wishes as RZA didn't want to go as disrespectful towards the females while Paul couldn't care less. Luckily, he found a way to put it out anyways as a B-side.
Whether or not you know all of that background info or not (and tons of more information like that), "Niggamortis" has stood the test of the time as a true hip-hop classic. Prince Paul has said many times that it his personal favorite of the records he has done and I'm inclined to agree, it really showed he can do those dark, grimey, hardcore beats with the best of them and you can truly hear how he and RZA really inspired eachother during its making. The hunger in RZA's voice and agressive content is probably his best performance ever and he's on every damn track on this album - between his many styles, my favorites are his early RZArecta shit and the introspective shit he spat on "Wu-Tang Forever", and in fact the second GD project. Frukwan never really got the chance to shine as bright on the Stetsasonic albums but here he just murders everything, and his calmer voice is used as a perfect balance between RZA's and Poetic's wild styles. Which brings us to Poetic, who according to Prince Paul was like the lyrical frontman of the group. He had previously only had gotten to release one 12" on Tommy Boy (and a shelved album called "Droppin' Signal" that is another dope lost gem that remained in the vaults for way too long), though Paul tells about this unbelivable demo that he did with his brother Brainstorm and producer Mr. Sime as Brothers Grymm that made him want to sign him to Dew Doo Man before it folded. Speaking of Mr. Sime, a lot of people have wondered who that guy that produced the classic "Here Come The Gravediggaz" which is pretty much his only production credit on an official release. Paul wanted all the members to be involved on the production side as well - RZA of course did "Graveyard Chamber" and together with the rest of the group created the americna title track; Frukwan produced "Blood Brothers", which was a cut from his demo, though I'm not quite sure how the original record sounded as Paul says that he had to replay a lot of it, mix it down and so on so I guess he should at least have a co-producer credit on it; and as for Poetic's production, since he wasn't really a producer back then (unlike later when he made some absolutely amazing beats on the latter GD projects), he wanted to include a song by Poetic's producer Mr. Sime instead (and according to himself, he was pretty hands off on this one).
Poetic had a style that was unmatched, like ODB there were no father to his style and when The Gravediggaz formed the stars were definitely aligned because few groups can boost about such an incredible chemistry both amongst the emcees and with their producer. And RZArector absolutely murdered everything on this album - Paul tells how he constantly put these two emcees against each other to get the best performances from both, as in telling Poetic "Damn, RZA KILLED you on that, you better do it again", and telling RZA the same but the other way around! And it deifninitely worked! Although the original quartet only did one album, luckily enough they did release a bunch of B-sides, remixes with new vocals, demos and soundtrack joints which makes for a perfect compilation for anyone who want more of that six feet deep hip hop ish. I know I do.. So without further a due, check it out, it's the Graveyard Chamber. I only included songs or remixes done between 1992 and 1995 produced or remixed by one of the original members. Most of them are Prince Paul productions but there's a few slamming RZA cuts on here as well. The exception is the bonus tracks I added that I bet has been forgotten about a lot of people, I know I hadn't heard them for YEARS before putting this together. These are bonus tracks however as I really wanted to focus on Prince Paul's work (and RZA's to a lesser extent) making this a sort of unofficial sister album to "Niggamortis" - included are the Portishead remix of "Nowhere to Run", the excellent Underdog remixes of "Bang Your Head" and "Mommy, What's A Gravedigga?". Last but not least, there's also Big Kap's Flip Squad remix of "1-800 Suicide", not a favorite of mine but maybe many of y'all like it so why not include it? These are all official joints, lifted from the many 12" packs Gee Street released in its promotions, as well as a few other demo joints that Prince Paul let loose on "Hip Hop Gold Dust" and his Soundcloud. There will never be a group like Gravediggaz again so enjoy this slamming complation because I know I am! And if you're mentally dead, these guys got the shovels to dig you out so TURN UP THE VOLUME my friends and let Frukwan, Poetic, RZA and Prince Paul take you on a journey to the darkside; 70 minutes of classic, somewhat rare hip-hop at it's finest! ENJOY this dark shit my friends!!
01. "Intro"
[This into comes from the original Gravediggaz demo tape that Paul shopped around to labels for almost one year without any label wanting to sign them - imagine that. Def Jam passed, Geffen passed, and so on. The only one interested was Eazy E's Ruthless Records, Paul even went down there to meet Eazy and Heller but when he saw the contact he was like "Thanks, but no thanks". The demo included this, "The House That Hatred Built", "Ashes to Ashes", "2 Cups Of Blood", "Pass The Shovel", "Freak The Sorceress" and "1-800 Suicide". Now that's a demo!]
02. "The Houe That Hatred Built"
[first GD song ever recorded and the track that started it all. This song was made during the quartets first meeting at Pauls house in L.I. It's not as polished as later cuts, though Prince Paul did a band up job of making it sound real clear when he dropped it to his Soundcloud in 2012]
03. "1-800 Suicide - New Vocal Version]"
[This is just incredible, "1-800 Suicide" is one of the classic hip-hop songs of all time, so to hear that same beat and that KRS-One hook always puts chills up my spine. The difference here is that this song, which was relesaed on the but new excellent verses from all]
04. "Mommy What's A Gravedigga - Cali Mix"
[Prince Paul gets his West Coast sound on with this one. Uses the same vocals as the RZA mix, but puts it over that cassic moog synths and heavy LA bass which brings out a totally different sonical feeling of the song. In fact I believe that RZA's remix is the one that the trio recorded their vocals over as that one was released several months earlier on the "1-800 Suicide" 12" in 1994. Paul's mix idefinitely dope but I'd go with the RZA remix any day of the week]
05. "The Reincarnation Of Freud"
[B-side with Prince Paul showing off his DJ skills, Poetic came up with the name. Damn I miss dope 12" records with all these dope reimixes and B-side]
06. "Pass The Shovel"
[only included on the original European pressings as a bonus track; one of the first tracks GD ever recorded as a group. Paul didn't even want it on the album either way, but Gee Srtreet was adamant about having one more record for the European market so this was the one. As a standalone it has stood the est of the time obviously]
07. "1-800 Suicide - Poisonous Mix"
[classic RZA '95 production, with Blue Raspberry on vocals. Paul even included this on his production album "Hip Hop Gold Dust" as the only song he didn't produce hismself - saying how this is one of his favorite Poetic verses of all time. There's also a "Guillotine Mix" that's exactly the same beside the fact that RZA's verse is replaced by the one on the "New Vocal Version", see above, which made it seem redudant to include it here]
08. "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark"
[rare classic, that was neither on the demo tape and remained unreleased until 2005 on the aforementioned Prince Paul compilation It's definitely an early GD song though, as engineer Scotty Harding speaking on the original demo remembers his favorite song from that early era being the Craiig G featured "Don't Be Afraid..."]
09. "Michael Jackson Skit" [it's Prince Paul so of course we need some brilliant skits, and this one is just fucking HILARIOUS despite it's a bit morbid knowing about what happened to the King Of Pop ow but still... Gravediggaz interrogating Jackson about stealing some Gravediggaz tapes from the studio, haha]
10. "From The Darkside"
[released in 1995 on the "Tales From The Darkside" soundtrack, and sees Paul take a step back from production as the song is a co-production between Poetic and Frukwan who obviously snapped up a lot working with two of the abolute best and most innovative proucers of the '90s. While it's a Undertaken and Grimm joint, RZA was present for the ssion as it does features RZA on adlibs (could be an interview except though, but still... I know he endorsed it, as I 've heard him play it his DJ sets]
11. "Freak The Soceress"
[This cut is a fucking monster, RZA's just going at it real hardcore. As I stated above, Prince Paul really wanted this on the record but strangely enough RZA thought it was to misgrading to women (ain't you the guy that made "Maria", "Dometic Violence", "A Better Tomorrow, etc, just to name a few?). Prince Paul managed to sneak it onto the B-side to "Nowhere to Run" though so it's a win for the fans and for Paul!
12. "Constant Elevation - Alternative, Original Vocal Mix"
[RZA recorded two versions of his verse here, and in 2005 Paul released his favorite version of the song that he fighted to keep on the album, but RZA didn't hear it. Paul felt this verse was mch more street while The Abbot felt it was too close to his Tommy Boy created persona Prince Rakeem. Which one do you prefer?]
13. "Diary Of A Madman - No Courtrom Verision"
[While
I of course abolutelely LOVE what Prince Paul did with the original
album and single version, it's kind of cool to hear the song inerruped. I
wouldn't replace tthe album with it but it's no doubt a very
interesting listening to hear this monster track with no interrutoptions]
14. "Mommy What's A Gravedigga" [RZA Mix]
[Prince Paul and RZA both did a mix of the very short album cut "Mommy What's A Gravedigga?" for the Double Suicide Pack 2x12", using brand new vocals and extending it from like 1:30 to a full blown track. I got to say that RZA took home this one, mainting that hardcore Gravedigga vibe of New York, while Paul went more experimental]
15. "Ashs to Ashes" [Demo]
[Beside the "Intro" and "The House That Hatred Built", "Ahes to Ashes"is the only song from the original 7 track demo that has never appeared anyehwere else. Scotty Harding has revealed that beside making them sound clearer they really didn't do anything to the songs like "2 Cups of Blood" that made it from the demo to the album. And it's fucking sick jam too - only problem is the weak sound quality, but you can't win them all right!]
BONUS TRACKS - Official Remixes by Outsiders
16. "Nowhere to Run to Hide" [Portis Head Mix]
17. "Bang Your Head" [Underdog Remix]
18. "Mommy What's A Graveigga?" [Uptight Cratedigga Remix]
19. "1-80 Suicide" [Big Kap's Flip Squad Mix]
20. "Nowhere to Run" [Portishead Mix 2] In memory of Antoy Ian Berkely - one of the moder underrated, and of the geatest to it. Buy Gravediggaz music @ Amazon and iTunes. GRAVEDIGGAZ - "WHAT'S A GRAVEDIGGA?"
This baby has been out for some time by now, at least a few weeks, but being that Adrian Younge quickly has become one of my favorite producers doing it at the moment I'm taking this opportunity to post this up for anyone who might have missed it since I've been slacking heavily on updates lately. "Los Angeles" is a 10 tracks deep official compilation by Younge's Linear Labs Studios/label, featuring previously released material and exclusive tracks produced by Younge for artists like Ghostface, Laettitia Sadler, Bilal, Venice Dawn, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Toni Scruggs, Souls Of Mischief, and more. Highlights include the first single from "Twelve Reasons to Die Pt. 2" (you might remember its predecessor being my favorite LP of 2012) which features Raekwon and RZA and goes HARD, and the first joint from the Ali Shaheed/Younge joint production LP. And more than that it plays very well as a front-to-back listen, going through alot of Younge's brilliant funk/soul renaissance sound. "Twelve Reasons.. Pt. 2" drops July 10... TURN IT UP!!
This is a real monster here that I totally had missed out on that die hard Wu fans will go ape shit over if you too wasn't aware of its existence until now. Apparantly this rough mix of the GZA classic "Labels" from his unbelivably dope "Liquid Swords" LP made its round on a few Stretch & Bobbito mixtapes back in early '95 and features a vintage, dark, brooding RZA instrumental that resembles the album version though it's far from as well developed and perfect as what eventually turned up on the album but instead packs in a lot of exclusive sounds and vibes. Check it out above and thanks to the original uploader and Dark Matter who put me on to it. You can also download the mp3 below, so be sure to do that because as I said this is a real fucking GEM right here! GZA - "LABELS" [DEMO]
While I've heard some people put down Adrian Younge's collaboration with Ghostface on 2013's "Twelve Reasons to Die", this has always been absolutely crazy to me. You might remember that I put that album as my number one pick of the best hip-hop albums released of its year, and I absolutely loved how it all came together and the chemistry displayed between GFK, Adrian Younge and the many incredible guest emcees, and while the story was quite generic it was still a very fascinating listen no matter what and GFK did a great job conveying the emotions. So when I found that the MC/producer duo (who also includes Younge's live band Venice Dawn) has been working on a sequel to that excellent album sporting an ill tracklist (on paper) and a great cover I was hyped to say the least (i wasn't at all crazy about "36 Seasons" which was a dissapointment to me, though the BadBadNotGood joint is solid, especially beatwise).
The first single is now here and is titled "Return Of The Savage" and features RZA and Raekwon. Real Wu heads will love the fact that Raekwon, who did not appear on the first installment, is all over this baby. Check out the single below along with the official tracklist and turn that motherfucker up! Cop the album in various packages directly from Linear Labs Music storeand receive it for its 10th of July release. TURN THIS ONE UP (I absolutely love this one)!!
01. Powerful One 02. Return Of The Savage (feat Raekwon & RZA) 03. King Of New York (feat Raekwon) 04. Rise Up (feat Scarub) 05. Daily News 06. Get The Money (feat Vince Staples) 07. Death's Invitation (RZA Interlude) 08. Death's Invitation (feat Lyrics Born, Scarub & Chino XL) 09. Let The Record Spin (RZA Interlude) 10. Let The Record Spin (feat Raekwon) 11. Blackout (feat Raekwon) 12. Resurrection Morning (feat Raekwon & Bilal) 13. Life's A Rebirth (feat RZA)
On a personal level I have always held Raekwon's marvelous '95 debut "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." to be the single greatest album ever created. An opinion that is not all that unpopular amongst hip-hop heads and music critics, so when the Chef announced plans to produce a true sequel to hsi masterpiece in collaboration with most of the supporting cast of the original music fans everywhere were ecstastic at the prospect. Though the initial recording sessions went down as early as 2005 the project faced label and distribution problems that caused it to be delayed until mid-2009. Within that time a whole lot of changes occured that would transform the original idea behind the project into something else, while the countless recording sessions allowed Raekwon to release a huge amount of mixtapes that made sure the hype didn't die down. I was following the developement of the LP rather fiendishly at the time, snapping up any media reports and digging through every article and interview that I came across. The early articles was also some of the best in increasing the hopes of listeners getting a sequel that could live up to its name. Two of my favorites, and also those who I base much of my own conclusions on, is two interviews with RZA from SCRATCH and Hip Hop Connection, respectively. The piece in SCRATCH is based on a listening session and breakdown of several key songs together with RZA, while the HHC interview only slightly touches upon "OB4CL2" but in doing so reveals important pieces to the puzzle. Both articles were published already back in 2006, giving credence to the fact that a full album was basically completed and ultimately remade before it reached the public. This is the basis for my own writing today, to use all the information available to recreate a possible interpretation of what "OB4CL2" might have been like had it been released when it was originally intended to.
To clarify, I think that "OB4CL2" indeed is a very good album that stands on its own, but that being said it is not, unlike its predecessor, without flaws. In its initial stages, the concept of the album was to have RZA be the main producer steering the ship while additional tracks would be supplied by J Dilla, Scram Jones, Erick Sermon and a couple of others. However, by the time Raekwon was able to release it this had changed drastically as only two RZA tracks remained on the album ("Fat Lady Sings" was in fact produced by True Master). Now, to me RZA was every bit as integral to the original "Cuban Linx" sound as Raekwon was - and so was Ghostface. To then make a sequel barely carrying RZA's sound is just wrong, like making a sequel to "Carlito's Way" and having Jay Hernandez and Puff Daddy play the leads. However, a big reason for this is that many of the cuts recorded for "OB4CL2" was snatched up, in some cases remixed, and put out as Wu-Tang Clan tracks on "8 Diagrams". I personally believe that is the main reason for Rae's public resentment against that LP, which is totally understandable. So without a main producer and years of building the album, leaving Raekwon with tons of material to consider, the 24 tracks deep LP that was finally released comes off as a heavy, but disjointed almost mixtape like album. This didn't stop me from banging the shit out of it for months after it dropped though as almost everything on it is pure crack and an unbelivable step up from Raekwon's previous outing, 2003:s "The Lex Diamond Story". With that being said I did miss a central sound and the always sharp on-record chemistry between Raekwon and RZA. That begs the question - had it actually been better had the original vision been kept in tact, had RZA not given away tracks for "8 Diagrams", etc.? I personally think the version that I am about to present y'all with, based only on songs confirmed to have been recorded by 2006 or at the very latest 2007, answers that question in the affirmative but you'll be the judge for yourself!
01. "Baggage Handlers" Ft. Busta Rhymes
This was originally pegged as an early single from "Cuban Linx II" and made an apperance on the first installment of Chef's "The Vatican" mixtape series (2006). I initially figured this as more of a street single to build up hype, but conversations about this topic with Seamuz made me change my mind. As an album opener I think it works really well; beginning with a Scarface sample that leads into a real hard knocking banger of pure energy that builds up the anticipation of what's to come... An anticipation that is doubled up with Busta Rhymes raw hook - "YO IT'S CUBAN LINX II MOTHERFUCKERS!!". Some debate about whether this was produced by ?uestlove or J Dilla, however it is clear that Busta figured it a Jay Dee beat (which he, in his role as executive producer, probably presented to Raekwon together with the other Dilla beats that he picked) as he included it as such on "Dillagence".
02. "House Of Flying Daggers" Ft. GZA/Genius, Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah & Method Man
Another J Dilla production, structured around a one bar loop that I believe is sampled from RZA's "Ghost Dog" score and mixed down in a real lo-fi manner with the drums and bass line booming and blasting at you. In other words this song is raw as fuck! "House Of Flying Daggers" was mentioned early on as a posse cut with the Clan. In the VIBE article it mentions how GZA and Inspectah Deck had recorded a lot of material for the LP, playing a similiar position as that of Ghost on the first one, and here they make their first, out of several, apperances.
03. "Black Mozart" Ft. Inspectah Deck
Originally titled "Secret Indictment" this Inspectah Deck collaboration was at one point considered to be the next single from the LP, following "State Of Grace". RZA's flip of 'The Godfather' theme is neither original or very creative, but the track has an aura of dark mystique, an intense hook and killer verses from both parties. Great success!
04. "Sonny's Missing"
Produced by Pete Rock, this song was never mentioned in any of the early interviews, though it clearly was recorded back then (perhaps in the same session as "Kids That's Rich"). The reason I know this is because the beat was first heard in early 2008 on Pete's "NY's Finest" where Royal Flush made a great track called "Questions" out of it. Mr. Philips put a light on the situation - "I gave the beat to Raekwon, and it was just lingering for years and years ... I didn't think he wanted the beat anymore, so I used it for my album" (Complex, 2011).
05. "Broken Safety" Ft. Jadakiss & Styles P
This was often mentioned in earlier articles under the title of "Forty Deuce" and is produced by Scram Jones. Jones was also one of the first outside producers, together with Jay Dee, whose work was confirmed for the album, hence their inclusion here. It also fits the vibe of the album very well if you ask me, and hearing The LOX and Wu is always a good thing.
06. "Rockstars & Smoking Barrels" Ft. GZA/Genius & Inspectah Deck
"Rockstars" (which it was renamed for) was discussed in the SCRATCH article and the description made it sound like the most awesome song ever recorded. In 2009 when we were getting real close to the release, Raekwon and the Ice Water team kept posting the tracklist, albeit with slight changes and "Rockstars" was deleted only at the last minute, which is a true shame. This is without a doubt the song that I'm the most disapointed with not being included on the LP. The team of Raekwon, GZA and Inspectah Deck over RZA's laid back, blues inspired production is just fantastic. GZA's storytelling abilities is on another level as proven here.
07. "New WU" Ft. Method Man & Ghostface Killah
Classic Wu vibes on this, the lead single from the 2009 release, and I remember I was gobsmacked hearing this monster jam for the first time. I never saw this track mentioned in interviews back in '06/'07 but since it's a RZA production I figured that it might very well have been done then as all songs obviously wasn't revealed at the time.
08. "10 Bricks" Ft. Ghostface Killah & Cappadonna
Yessir, the Ghost/Rae/Cappa collaboration is definitely a must for a proper "Cuban Linx..." sequel, and "10 Bricks" delivers in every sense. J Dilla is behind the production, and the beat would later be pciked up from a beat tape and modeled into "The Red" remix for Madlib. Once again this particular title was not mentioned to my knowledge but I remember reading an interview with Busta who revealed that Jay Dee had several tracks on there.
09. "Kareem Khan" Ft. GZA/Genius, Masta Killa & Slick Rick
Real stripped down, pounding track that put the emphasis on thick DRUMS and a beautifully structured bridge sampled from Bobby Womack's classic "Across 110th Street". "Kareem Khan" was described in the SCRATCH Magazine article and was luckily kept for inclusion on the final album, although renamed "We Will Rob You". The aforementioned article states that this song was a co-production between RZA and Young Justice (the son of GZA) though the linear notes only credits the latter. I think the first scenario is the more plausible one but who knows. Very ill track nontheless, and I love the intro with Slick Rick ("...no, but I'ma tell you one of them old, Raekwon crime joints").
10. "Baggin' Crack"
As with "Rockstars" this song appeared and disappeared between the various tracklists Raekwon posted before the release of the album - it did survive however. Erick Sermon's involvement with the album was announced in 2006 and as far as I know this is the only known song from them (save for "Goldmine" on Busta's Aftermath LP and the "We Mean Business" cameo). Interesting fact - the constant hacking hi-hat sound is created from looping a razor hitting the table, It does have a West Coast vibe to it which makes for a nice transition into...
11. "About Me"
When Raekwon signed to Aftermath in '06 he went in the studio to record with Dr. Dre. At one point it was said that The Good Doctor would be responsible for a large percentage of the beats on the LP, but to my knowledge only three songs has been revealed to have came out of those sessions. Two of them appeared on "CL2" while a third track, supposedly featuring Busta Rhymes have yet to be released. Although "Catalina" fits the time frame I decided to cut it, simply on personal taste as I never been big on it nor do I find it very "Cuban Linx"-esque. "About Me" is a heavy track though, and more in line with the sound of the LP.
12. "Thug World" Ft. Inspectah Deck & RZA
"Thug World", which was mentioned in the SCRATCH article, is the very definition of a Wu banger; sparse, hard hitting, dark, opens on a movie sample, etc. For this very reason I found it extremely frustrating that RZA completely reworked and remixed it into the psychadelic rock-rap experiment "Unpredictable" on "8 Diagrams": Luckily DJ Allah Mathematics included the first 2:30 of the song on the official promo mixtape preceding the Clan album. This version has been expanded two times by creative and talented fans. The first version extends the snippet by repeating the chorus after RZA's verse and including the full movie sample. The second version, created by Rusty WU Chain on my request, adds the acapellas to Raekwon and U-GOD's verses on "Execution in Autumn" as these verses followed RZA according to Cilvaringz. The only problem is that there's not any clean parts to allow the beat to be looped up in a proper way, so a part of the movie dialouge plays under the two last verses. It's good in the way that you'll get an idea of what the complete original track sounded like. I included the extended version by Hom1e, but be sure to check out the Rae/Uey version HERE(again many thanks to Rusty and Hom1e for their respective mixes).
13. "Weak Spot" Ft. RZA & GZA/Genius
Another song that ended up on "8 Diagrams" but unlike "Thug World" did so virtually unchanged from the mixtape version. In an interview with HipHopConnection in 2006 RZA mentions a track called "Weed Spotz" (probably a misinterpretation by the interviewer) that he produced during the "Cuban Linx II" sessions. Already here RZA was not sure whether they should include it on "CL2" or save it for the next Clan album as it was heavy on the Kung Fu vibe and he wasn't sure if he wanted to mix the Mafia and martial art themes. The version that appeared on the "8D" mixtape in 2007 is different in the way that it is a different mix of the song with a whole lot more emphasis on the strings which is placed a lot more far back on the album version. You can download the mixtape version here (it's actually the superior version, although I went with the album version due to sound quality).
14. "State Of Grace"
This song is correctly titled for sure, it's got a truly majestic vibe although it is based around a simple loop. This reminds me a bit of LL Cool J's comeback single/LP "Mama Said Knock You Out" in that some people had counted Rae out as a solo artist and this track, the first single from the album, let everyone know that he's back and not going anywhere. The chemistry that I mentioned between Rae and RZA is truly in effect here, and despite it having been out for years when "CL2" was finally released it's a shame that this was cut. "Halftime" had been out for a few years when "Illmatic" dropped, imagine they had deleted that because everybody already having heard it. 15. "Mean Streets" Ft. Inspectah Deck & Ghostface Killah
Yet another Inspectah Deck collaboration, underlining the notion that INS and GZA taking on the role of Starks for this sequel. Rebel INS appears on a total of six tracks on this version, while GZA kicks knowledge on four joints (about the same amount of songs he usually rhymes over on Clan LP:s). Produced by Allah Mathematics I remember this joint catching some flack from Wu-Tang fans when the LP was first heard, likely because of the chorus, but for me this is an all around winner. I think the first time I saw this song title mentioned might've been in 2007.
16. "Kiss The Ring" Ft. Inspectah Deck & Masta Killa
"Kiss The Ring" closes the album on the official version which I think is a great choice, as it is a triumphant celebration of a mission completed. Scram Jones on the beat again, and Inspectah Deck is joined by Masta Killa, making sure it's a family affair.
17. "Sunlight" Ft. RZA
Here's one that is likely to suprise a whole lot of people who didn't know about this. Remember the RZA solo track on "8 Diagrams" where he's rapping about the greatness and grace of God, Allah, over a really dark, strange track without drums. This was in fact originally recorded and intended for inclusion on "Cuban Linx II" as some sort of intermission. That is why you'll hear Raekwon on the intro saying "It's fat man, it's fat!". Kind of strange how RZA wasn't sure about mixing the martial arts theme with drug rhymes, but Coke and the goodness of God works fine.
18. "Ason Jones"
Raekwon was at one point listed as one of the guest features on J Dilla's still unreleased (in official format) "Jay Loves Japan" release around 2005. That album is where the instrumental for "Ason Jones" belongs, titled "Believe in God", which makes it possible that "Ason Jones" would've appeared on "Jay Loves Japan". I don't believe that Raekwon would not have included such a personal song on his own album as well, however. A beautiful tribute to the late Russel Jones, this makes for a very powerful outro to the album, something that Raekwon too would agree with as early 2009 tracklists often placed this as the final cut.
00. "No Matter How Hard You Try" Ft. RZA & Inspectah Deck
The song which appeared on RZA's solo album "Digi Snacks" in 2008 had a long journey before ending up as a Bob Digi single. Originally mentioned as part of "OB4CL2" in the SCRATCH article, it was then moved over for inclusion on "8 Diagrams" before being exercised and resurrected for "Digi Snacks". If I remember correctly it also featured Ghostface but as their was quite some turmoil between RZA, Ghost and Rae around that time it's easy to see why their verses were cut. As those verses never have been made available to the public I decided against including it here, but I highly recommend including this somewhere in the middle of "8 Diagrams" whenever you listen to that in digital format.
So there you have it! My revisit of "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Part 2" which I personally think makes for an almost flawless album, and one that is more reminiscent of classic Wu albums - especially "Supreme Clientele". It has a cohessive sound created by having The RZA producing a large chunk of the album (producing eight of the eighteen records), while Jay Dilla and Scram Jones stick to the script by contributing beats that fits the project like a glove. Again bringing up "Supreme Clientele", RZA and Raekwon collaborated on "CL2" in much the same vein. As Raekwon explained to WaxPoetics - "We kept the same vibe. I ain't stupid. I went back and made sure that shit was compatible. RZA sat for hours and guided everyone through exactly what we needed" (WaxPoetics, 2008).' I would love to hear some comments on this to see if people appreciate this alternative version as much as I do, and while you're at it I would strongly recommend checking out my Raekwon compilation "Enter The Vatican". That's a great companion piece to this as it collects all of the, to me, illest mixtape songs by Chef from around 2005-2007. Last but not least, PEACE to Seamuz for the good discussions that led to this post and compilation.
